Hurryoff was an American Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 best known for winning the third leg of the 1933 U.S. Triple Crown

United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

 series. He was bred and raced by Joseph Widener

Joseph E. Widener

Joseph Early Widener was a wealthy American art collector who was a founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C...

, owner of the prestigious Elmendorf Farm

Elmendorf Farm

Elmendorf Farm is a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, and has been involved with horse racing since the early 19th century...

 in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

 and president of Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

 and Hialeah Park

Hialeah Park Race Track

The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic site in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S...

 racetracks. Hurryoff was sired by Withers Stakes

Withers Stakes

The Withers Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds willing to compete one mile on the dirt. Held at Aqueduct Racetrack every year at the end of April , it is a Grade III event, and offers a purse of $150,000...

 winner, Haste. He was out of the mare Blue Grass, who was also the dam of Unbreakable who sired Polynesian

Polynesian (horse)

Polynesian was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owned by Gertrude T. Widener, of the prominent Widener family of Philadelphia, and bred by her father-in-law Joseph E...

. Hurryoff's damsire was the outstanding British runner, Prince Palatine

Prince Palatine

Prince Palatine was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was named for County Palatine of Lancaster near where his breeder William Hall Walker had been raised....

 who had stood at Xalapa Farm

Xalapa Farm

Xalapa Farm is an American Thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded in 1897 in Paris, Kentucky by Edward Francis Simms.Horses such as Prince Palatine have stood at stud at Xalapa Farm. They have bred notable Graded stakes race winners such as Suave Dancer who in 1991 won the Irish Champion Stakes...

 in Kentucky.

Racing at age three, Hurryoff was entered in the Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

, the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. Lightly regarded, in his last race Hurryoff had gone unclaimed for $4,000. Although neither Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner Brokers Tip

Brokers Tip

Brokers Tip , by Black Toney out of the French mare Forteresse, was a Thoroughbred racehorse and the only horse in history whose sole win was in the Kentucky Derby...

, nor the Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 victor, Head Play

Head Play

Head Play was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1933 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races and as the horse on the losing end of the "Fighting Finish" of the 1933 Kentucky Derby.- Early racing career :At age two Head Play broke his...

, was entered in the mile and a half Belmont Stakes, Hurryoff was still a 12:1 longshot when he won the richest race of the year for three-year-olds. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R7cRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VOgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3303,911744&dq=hurryoff&hl=en http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20A17FD395C16738DDDA80994DE405B838FF1D3

The Belmont would be Hurryoff's only significant race win of his limited career and his last start. For more than a decade owner Joseph Widener had been donating stallions to the Breeding Bureau of the Jockey Club including Hurryoff's grandsire, Maintenant. The Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

affected all aspects of horse racing and in 1933 yearling prices fell to record lows http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60817FB3E5516738DDDAD0A94DA415B838FF1D3 and in August 1934 Widener gifted Hurryoff to the Remount Association and the Breeding Bureau. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/827918092.html?dids=827918092:827918092&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+14%2C+1934&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Hurryoff+Hurries+Off+After+Win+at+Belmont&pqatl=google